Potentially Useful Information For Your Many Adventures
In the wake of further details for the upcoming November and December updates, Square Enix announced that Final Fantasy XIV players will receive an additional free month if they register by November 19. All current players will automatically receive the extension, including those who were eligible for the previous one in October.
The November version update is tentatively scheduled for November 25. Full details can be found at the Lodestone.
With the November update coming up, Square Enix has revealed more information about the soon-to-be changes to Final Fantasy XIV. The updates contain many items players have been requesting since the game’s release, and a list of key adjustments follows:
Continue reading ‘Tidying Up Final Fantasy XIV: Square Enix Gives More Update Details’ »
The PSP-bound Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together will be receiving free DLC, says Square Enix. The content contains extra scenarios and will be hosted on the PlayStation Store, though said scenarios will only be available after meeting certain conditions in the game.
Currently, three scenarios are planned, with the first – dubbed Search for Warren – scheduled for December 1 in Japan. Although confirmed for the US, Let Us Cling Together has not received a US release date.
Source: andriasang
Developer Mistwalker have revealed a well-hidden detail of their upcoming title, The Last Story. Up to six players will be able to team up or fight each other online via the game’s Raid Lobby, with co-op battles set against select monsters.
Due out in Japan early next year, The Last Story has not received a US release date.
Source: Destructoid
Man, where to even begin? Let’s start with big. Fallout New Vegas is mind-bogglingly big, easily outpacing Fallout 3 in terms of content. With the hard work of engine development out of the way, Obsidian was free to expand on the template Bethesda provided; a long-awaited homecoming for many of the original Fallout developers. The team clearly didn’t hold back, and there’s enough game here to overwhelm even the most industrious player. While the results aren’t quite perfect, New Vegas is a clear improvement in most respects and easily one of the best RPGs this year.
Continue reading ‘Fallout New Vegas (PC) – Staff Review #2’ »
Addressing the official forums, BioWare’s Jesse Houston confirmed a few details about the upcoming PlayStation 3 release of Mass Effect 2. Correcting a translation error in an earlier interview, Houston confirmed that all content currently available for 360/PC will be available on PS3. Of particular note is that most of the substantial DLC content to date – Lair of the Shadow Broker, Kasumi: Stolen Memory, and Overlord – will be included for free. As with other platforms, retail copies will also permit access to the Cerberus network and its content.
Unique to the PS3 release is the interactive comic, of which few details are currently known. However, Houston mentioned that it would allow players “to be faced with some of the major choices which will have consequences your Mass Effect universe.” It was specified that the comic would initially be exclusive to the PS3, given the first game did not appear on the platform.
Houston’s post can be read in full here. Mass Effect 2 will be available for the PS3 in January of 2011.
The third Valkyria Chronicles title has a confirmed release date for the demo. So far only confirmed for a Japanese release, the Valkyria Chronicles 3 demo will be available on the PlayStation Network starting November 9. It reportedly is similar to the version debuted at the Tokyo Game Show, though it will have an extra mission and players who complete it can unlock exclusive weapons in the retail release.
Source: 1UP
Not content with preparing for the rise of the machines, Facebook will soon be hosting a new installment in the Dragon Age series. Dubbed Dragon Age Legends, the title centers around the city of Kaiten in the Free Marches. Once plagued by a pride demon masquerading as the city’s ruler, Kaiten is again beset by strange circumstances and it falls to you – one of the people who eventually unmasked and slew the demon – to get to the bottom of it.
The beta is scheduled to start January next year, and requires an account with both BioWare and Facebook, along with subscription to the Dragon Age newsletter. Beta registration and additional information can be found on the Legends homepage.
We hope you’re all having a fun time tonight. We’re currently terrified by the sheer number of recent releases that we need to review, but that means more treats for all of you in the weeks to come! We’ll be extending our Halloween themed reviews into next week, so you can expect even more monster/costume/apocalyptic fun.
One part tabletop RPG, one part multiple strains of vampire fiction, and three parts of that special Troika blend of high-ambition but low-stability programming; that’s Vampire: the Masquerade: Bloodlines in a nutshell. A serviceable first-person RPG, Bloodlines is also a newbie’s field guide to the World of Darkness and its modern-day undead secret societies. How well the game works depends largely on how well you can tolerate subpar coding and questionable design choices, yet buried under the usual PC RPG mess is a versatile story and a cast of memorable, well-acted characters.
Continue reading ‘Vampire: the Masquerade: Bloodlines – Staff Review’ »
In a recent press release, NIS America revealed an interesting new addition to their lineup, care of developer Idea Factory: Hyperdimension Neptunia, a game about game consoles and companies personified as cute girls and robots that fight each other. You take the role of Neptune, seeking to rescue the captive Histoire and save the world of Gamindustri from the machinations of Arfoire.
Take a moment for all that to sink in. Ready? Okay, moving on. Neptunia is bound for the PS3, and players bent on some console-tan action can get started by Spring of 2011.
Perhaps related to the success of Matrix Software’s DS remakes of Final Fantasy 3 and 4, Final Fantasy: Four Heroes of Light is a stand-alone Final Fantasy game deeply ingrained in the old school tradition. Unfortunately, the developer seems to have taken all the wrong lessons from the old school. Four Heroes of Light does push for overall simplicity of design, and that does capture something of the spirit of older RPGs, but it also features an obtuse interface, inconsistent difficulty, and direction so vague that it borders on the incomprehensible. Four Heroes of Light does do some things right — the class system is interesting, if a bit basic, and the game’s visuals are exceptional — but the game is unfriendly on a basic level and doesn’t offer the player much reward for getting past that.
Continue reading ‘Final Fantasy: Four Heroes of Light – Staff Review’ »
Castlevania is one of today’s oldest and most iconic gaming series, with its roots tracing all the way back to the NES. Back in those days, it was a platformer famous for its tricky jumps fraught with traps that usually resulted in an untimely death. With the PlayStation came Symphony of the Night, a game that expanded upon the basic gameplay of Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest and incorporated the exploration of the Metroid series to create a very long running and well-liked RPG series. With the Nintendo 64 and the PlayStation 2, the series went 3D, and those games are largely considered disastrous by all but the most hardcore fans. With Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, the series tries to merge all three styles of gameplay into a cohesive game, and it largely succeeds, albeit not without copying a few other games along the way.
Continue reading ‘Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Staff Review’ »
The controversial successor to a short yet venerable gaming dynasty, Fallout 3 generated a lot of backlash amongst older fans. Frankly, there’s a lot of wiggle room as to whether or not Fallout 3 constitutes a worthy sequel (whatever that means) to the Fallout series. The combat system has been changed from an almost tactical turn-based affair to a first person shooter with a sort-of-kind-of turn based option, and the mainline plot is very inflexible, both aspects previously considered hallmarks of the series. However, by not relying too heavily on established conventions, Fallout 3 pushes itself further towards being a stand-alone title, which allows it far more creative freedom.
Continue reading ‘Fallout 3 – Staff Review #2’ »
In the world of gaming, it’s fairly common for titles to focus far too much on abstract gameplay concepts and not enough on setting the stage. So often, fighting legendary monsters feels absolutely nothing like being in a fantasy world, as players are simply too aware of the multitude of systems that surround the experience. Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon is an odd reversal of this issue. It is supremely easy to get lost in the sheer beauty and tragedy of the crumbling world the game presents, only to have that illusion come crashing to the ground when asked to do something practical, like press a switch.
Continue reading ‘Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon – Staff Review’ »
Fallout Online will launch in the second half of 2012, according to Interplay president Eric Caen. Speaking with Edge Magazine, Caen confirmed that the game’s beta will begin in 2012, with the retail version to come later that same year. Although he gave few details about the current state of the game, he remarked that “Even in January 2009, you were already able to move across the world.” It was also stated that combat would be a small portion of the game, and a large amount of gameplay would center around rebuilding the post-nuclear world.
Although he didn’t say much about Bethesda’s take on the series – or the ongoing legal issues between Interplay and Bethesda – he did comment that Interplay was following Bethesda’s installments, and that Fallout Online would go in another, less serious direction from Fallout 3 and New Vegas.
Source: Eurogamer
The ever-industrious folks over at Atlus just announced Pandora Saga, a new free-to-play MMORPG hitting North America early next year. Set in a fantasy world plagued by war, as they so often are, the game’s hook appears to be massive realm-versus-realm combat, pitting hundreds of players against each other simultaneously. A trailer and further information are available at the official site, and a closed beta is set to start in December.
Source: RPGLand
In the wake of criticism over Final Fantasy XIV‘s less than ideal launch condition, Square Enix has announced a series of updates in the coming months. Some were expected and are itemized in brief below, but one particularly interesting offer stood out: free trial periods for all accounts registered before October 25 will be extended for an additional month. Players already registered need take no action, as their trials will be extended automatically.
Continue reading ‘Final Fantasy XIV Trial Period Extended; Planned Updates Announced’ »
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